


Out of the Fog, and Into the Flame

by Art_and_a_Half



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien/Marinette/Nino/Alya kinda stuff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Implied Relationships, No real plot yet, SO MUCH FLUFF, Semi Slow Burn, Sick Fic, Side Relationships - Freeform, Slow Burn (ish), adrien has some problems, alya has some problems, everyone has problems, heavily implied alya/nino, implied poly shipping, implied sabrina/chloe, nino has some problems, only implied poly shipping, sick fic into true fic, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-03-30 09:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13948695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Art_and_a_Half/pseuds/Art_and_a_Half
Summary: Marinette wakes up one morning only to find that she is sick. Unfortunately, she can't make it to school.Luckily, Adrien, Alya, and Nino, are there to take care of Marinette. Some past hurts may even be revealed.





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette knew that somebody was calling for her through the thick fog that had descended upon her mind. Unfortunately, she couldn’t register who was calling her, or why they were doing so. She sniffled, before falling into a coughing fit. Marinette could hardly hear the next call over it over her own coughing. Her mother entered the room, but Marinette could barely focus on her moving form.

“Oh, Marinette,” Sabine murmured as she placed a hand on her daughter’s forehead, “I thought you were just sleeping in.”

A soft grumble was the only sound that Marinette could muster. Sabine shook her head at her daughter, before retracting her hand. Lifting her head, Marinette finally mustered the energy to croak out a response, “I… Need to get… To school…” before flopping her head back down onto the bed.

Sabine smiled softly at her daughter, her eyebrows pinched slightly in the middle. “It’s okay Marinette, I’ll just be down helping your father with the bakery. You can come down if you need anything, and I’ll check up on you later.” she left the room.

Marinette coughed weakly into her shoulder. Tikki floated up in front of her face, her eyes shining with worried tears. “Marinette, are you alright?”

With a quick shake of her head, Marinette turned away from Tikki. “No, I don’t feel well… Sorry Tikki, I don’t know if I’m up to transforming today.”

Again, Tikki floated in front of Marinette. “I just hope that there are no supervillains that we need to fight.”

Marinette smiled softly, before rasping, “Yeah, me too.”

 

It felt like Marinette had slept for hours when she returned to consciousness, but upon checking the time, she realised that school had only started ten minutes prior. Her phone buzzed in her hands, and a text message from Alya appeared on the screen. _**Are you coming to school?**_

She shook her head at the screen, before remembering that Alya couldn’t see that. Quickly, she typed a reply, ignoring the embarrassment clawing through her. ** _I can’t. I don’t feel well._**

Marinette clambered out of bed, and cautiously descended the ladder. Once she did so, and had both feet on the floor she promptly fell over.  
She pulled herself up, and moved over to her desk. She picked up a random sketchbook, and flicked through it. Mostly blank pages. Again, her phone buzzed: ** _Adrien is asking about you._**

A soft squeal escaped Marinette, and she danced quickly on the spot, only to stop as her head span. She typed back: _**Is he really?**_ And began to dance again.

The response from Alya had a much grimmer tone than Marinette was expecting. Yeah, but Chloe decided to say that you were faking being sick.

Marinette flinched at the words Alya had just typed. Why would she fake being sick?

With a yawn Marinette shrugged. She didn’t feel like arguing, or discussing the ins and outs of Chloe’s mind. _ **It doesn’t matter. Chloe can say whatever she wants. I’m gonna go back to sleep. Ttyl.**_

She climbed up the ladder, and fell back into bed, sketchbook still in hand. A pencil was tucked inside of the pages, bite marks worn down on the end. She began to sketch male vests and suits, picturing Adrien trying them on in her mind. A soft smile curled onto her lips, and she put down the pencil with a content sigh.

Before long, her head tilted back, and she fell into a doze.

 

Sitting by herself in French literature, a loneliness crawled deep into Alya’s chest. She’d never felt as good without Marinette next to her. She put on a brave face, even as Chloe tried to make fun of Marinette while she wasn’t there.

“-She’s probably faking being sick, just to get out of school. Or maybe she’s so lazy, that she decided not to get out of bed!” Chloe posed, and stared at her nails. “After all, I wouldn’t put it past her.”

Alya felt her stomach lurch uncomfortably.

“She’s sick, I think you should mind your own business, Chloe.” Adrien glowered, and turned away from her. Alya opened her eyes, and scrubbed at the tears that were threatening to fall. Chloe noticed this, and turned to whisper something to Sabrina next to her.

Chloe pointed, a squawking laugh bursting from her. “Oh, look, the baby is crying! Waa! Is she going to turn into a monster again!?”

Alya raised her hand, trying to ignore the way it trembled in the air. The teacher, Miss Bustier glanced over. “Yes, Miss Césaire?”

“May I be excused?” she shrunk into herself, conscious of everyone’s eyes on her. Miss Bustier nodded her head, and waved a hand towards the door. Alya stood, and gathered her things together. “Nino… Can you take care of my stuff?” she kept her voice lowered to not disturb the class more.

With a nod of his head, he raised a fist to bump with hers. She smiled and touched her own fist to his, but the thrumming of her heart threatened to consume her.

A split second before exiting, she overheard Chloe’s voice again, “Like I said, she’s going to turn into a monster.”

 

Adrien’s stomach rumbled as he left the classroom. Nino trailed behind him, carrying Alya’s items in his arms, nerves freely on display. “Dude, do you reckon that she’d be transformed again?” Nino finally asked, as he moved closer to Adrien. “It’s just that… Well…” he trailed off, eyes suddenly wet.

“I get it, you don’t want her to get hurt,” Adrien replied, shifting his bag on his shoulder gently. “But I think it should be fine, I’m pretty sure that she isn’t too-” the sound of a basketball hitting a backboard rung through the air. “-upset. I seem to have been proven wrong.”

Clutching the items close to himself, Nino ran down to the basketball court below, where Alya stood throwing basketballs as hard as she could. They bounced off the backboard, every single one missing the basket.

Eventually, she crumpled, sobs wracking her body. Nino ran forward, caught her in his arms, and checked her up and down.  
Alya grumbled something into Nino’s chest as Adrien descended the last few steps. Whatever she said seemed to make Nino more anxious. He put Alya’s items on the ground, and intertwined his fingers with hers.

“I’m so sorry about what Chloe’s been saying,” Adrien murmured as soon as they looked over to him. Alya just frowned at Adrien’s words, and looked away. Nino listened to him, while softly nodding his head. His eyes darted between Adrien and Alya.

Sucking in a deep breath, Adrien blurted, “I know she isn’t the best person in the world, and that I shouldn’t be the one to apologise for her actions…” he froze, every muscle in his body willing him to stop. Eventually, the feeling passed. “It’s just… I feel responsible for her, y’know? I’m one of her only friends.”

Nino locked eyes with Adrien, his head tilting a little in respect. “No, it’s okay. I get it. I know that you feel like you’re meant to look after her, but, like, she needs to defend her own arguments dude.”

“Yeah, I know.”

 

“Marinette! Alya, Nino, and Adrien are downstairs; you slept in too long!” Tikki flitted about in front of Marinette, her eyes wide as saucers: if her face were that big. Marinette swatted Tikki away, before realising what she’d just said.

“I haven’t even brushed my hair!” Marinette whined, before clambering out of bed on unsteady legs. She fell a few steps down her ladder, a loud thump echoing as she did so.

Adrien’s voice drifted through the floorboards, “It seems like Marinette’s up.”

Panicking, Marinette clambered down the last few steps, grabbed her hairbrush, and began to tear it through her hair. Three pairs of footsteps ascended the stairs, and she rushed even more than before. As she heard them begin to enter, she swept a stray blanket up, and twirled herself into it.

A familiar head of brown hair came into the room first. “There you are!” Alya pulled Marinette into a hug. As she pulled away, Marinette saw a flash of sadness in her eyes. But it was quickly covered as worry crept onto Alya’s face. “I knew you were sick, but you look much sicker than I thought you would.”

Adrien and Nino entered the room. Adrien’s eyes locked with Marinette’s, and he grimaced. “Aww, you really don’t look well. I hope that you’ve had enough rest today.”

Blushing Marinette replied, “Well, more than normal, and you know how much I usually sleep!” everyone laughed, and Marinette felt her cheeks grow even hotter.  
Alya’s phone vibrated, she pulled it from her. “Oh, that’s strange, Chloe texted me. Why would she do that?”

Marinette raised one of her eyebrows, and shuffled over to peer at the phone. As soon as Marinette positioned herself, Alya tapped the message. Nino popped up behind them, catching sight of the screen as the crudely edited image of Alya appeared on the screen. It made her significantly more monstrous, and another image attached revealed another image had also been edited, this one making Alya look like a demon.

Adrien winced as he caught sight of the image. “That’s low, even for her.”

Marinette nodded numbly; Alya had been akumatised once before, would she be able to be akumatised again?

“Hey, let’s just ignore that, yeah? She’s not worth the time, and, like, I came over here just for movies really,” Nino piped up, startling everyone out of their dark thoughts. Alya latched onto Nino’s arm, and pulled him over to the mini bed. After pulling it across with him to sit in front of the computer screen, she pushed Nino onto it, tucked her head into his chest, and sighed.

“Emergency cuddle machine.” she murmured. Nino wrapped his arms around her, and held her close to his chest.

Trying to get a movie picked, Adrien started listing all of the ones he knew off the top of his head. Some in French, and others not. Eventually, they all decided on a movie to watch. Marinette settled them all with a blanket. Her and Alya sat in the middle, Adrien next to her, and Nino next to Alya.

Soon after beginning the movie, Marinette’s eyes began to close. Desperately, she tried to cling to consciousness, only to have them feel heavier than before. Eventually, she gave in and leant her head onto Alya’s shoulder, and closed her eyes. One of her hands crept over and rested against Adrien’s arm, soon followed by her leg brushing against Adrien’s.

Adrien smiled down at Marinette’s snoozing form, and Nino leant over Alya to bump fists with him. “Score man!” he kept his voice low, but it still grated on Adrien’s ears, “You got a girl to fall asleep on you!”

A blush crept onto Adrien’s cheeks. “Oh, yeah. I guess she really is tired, huh?” the smile on his face grew wider as he stared down at Marinette, before it burst into a dorky grin.

Alya shushed them both. “I think she actually fell asleep on me.” before pointing towards the laptop screen. At her words, they all lapsed into a comfortable silence, the only noise in the room being their delicate breathing as the watched the movie.

Tikki peered at them from her hiding place inside of Marinette’s bag. “How cute,” she whispered to herself, before returning to the depths of the bag, where she found a packet of cookies.

“Just in case there is a villain today,” she thought, as she bit into the first cookie. “Just in case.”


	2. Chapter 2

When Marinette opened her eyes, it took a few moments to remember where she was, and what had occurred before she’d fallen asleep. But when she did realise, she sprung forward, and almost fell into her computer screen.

She began to cough again. Alya patted her back soothingly, waiting for it to stop.

When it did, Adrien leant forward, catching Marinette’s attention. “You okay? You look… Well… Surprised that we’re still here.”

Marinette nodded at him, her eyes watery and throat raw. “Y-yeah,” she rasped, “I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep for.” she turned back to Alya, and pressed against her. “Did my parents bring any medicine?”

Alya nodded, and reached behind the laptop to pick up a packet of pills. “Your mum said that you needed to take two of these.” she stared at the packet in her hand intently, and began to read the fine print. “Well, the box checks out, and so does the packet.”

Grateful for Alya’s assistance, Marinette took the packet, and popped two of the pills from their packing. With no hesitation, she dropped the pills into her mouth and swallowed them dry.

“Woah, she wolfed them down dry!” Nino crowed, pumping a fist in the air. Alya swatted him on the arm, and turned back to Marinette.

Adrien merely stared at her, his mouth parted slightly in surprise. “Did you just… Swallow those without water?” he shook his head, a grin creeping onto his face. “Haha, water surprise, eh?” earning a groan from them all.

Marinette shrugged at both of their responses, but couldn’t stop the redness blossoming on her face. Trying to ignore her embarrassment, she asked, “How long was I asleep?”  
A quick glance at the computer screen showed that she’d been out for the entire movie, as it merely showed her background.

Shrugging, Nino replied, “You were out for like, an hour and a bit. You fell asleep ten minutes into the movie. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

She groaned, and placed her face in her hands. Alya smiled at her. “Well girl, you shouldn’t be so worried. We just wanted you to wake up, so we can ask if we can stay over.”

Eyes widening so far that everyone could see the whites around Marinette’s irises, she replied, “I-I need to ask my parents-oh! What if they say no!” she bounced off the bed, pulling the blanket with her. The three on the mini bed exchanged glances before bursting into laughter. She whipped around, and fixed them all with a glare. “Why are you all laughing?” she grumbled, “H-hey! What is it?”

“Well, we already checked with your mum and dad,” Alya finally replied, “We just had to see whether you wanted us to stay.”

Nino nodded along with Alya, before butting into the conversation, “Yeah, the ‘rents say that it’s all good!” he raised both of his hands into thumbs up. “They also said that we could order something to eat! I call pizza!”

Raising herself up slightly, Marinette quietly asked, “Wait, they’re not here?” they’d never left her at home by herself when she was sick. “Th-they left?” her stammer grew worse as the overthinking side of her brain took over. “B-but they didn’t even know if I-I would have wanted you to stay…” she sat back down on the mini bed.

Noticing her upset tone, Alya quickly placed a hand on Marinette’s arm. “Don’t worry, everything is okay! We would have called them if you didn’t want us to stay with you, and didn’t want to be alone. Besides, I know you love sleepovers!” she gently punched Marinette’s arm, and turned back to Nino. “Can you go get clothes for you and Adrien? I can borrow some of Marinette’s.”

He spluttered, “Hey, no fair! Why do I have to get that stuff?!” before giving up due to Alya’s glare. He clambered off with a great sigh, before flashing a smile at Adrien. “Alright, I’ll go get us some clothes. Don’t do anything too fun while I’m gone!”

Marinette waved to him gently as he left, before coughing into her elbow again. Alya soothingly rubbed the small of her back, and rearranged the pillow behind Marinette. Adrien carefully moved closer to Marinette, before hovering his hand delicately over her shoulder.

“Hey, do you have any idea what we should do while we’re waiting for him to come back?” Adrien asked, as his hand slowly crept down to gently rest against the pyjamas Marinette still wore. Her cheeks grew warm, but she flashed a small smile back at him. “After we order the pizza!”

Alya scoffed and rolled her eyes, before exclaiming, “I think we should make a pillow fort!”

Her outburst was so sudden, that Marinette merely sat and blinked at Alya for a few seconds. When she finally registered what Alya had suggested, however, she broke into a massive grin. Instantly, she pushed the covers off of the mini bed, directly onto the floor.

She soon followed suit, landing softly onto the pile of covers on the floor. Alya jumped on after her, giggling. Soon, Marinette and Alya had the quilt and pillows separated into one pile, and the sheets in another.

Adrien slid off the mini bed, and rested on the floor, his legs crossed lankily. “So, you guys have any idea what to do?” he looked around nervously, but still flashed an awkward grin.

Alya’s response was to throw a pillow at Adrien, while scowling and looking around. Marinette giggled, and leant against Alya’s shoulder. Carefully, she glanced around the room, searching for items to aid in their quest to construct a fort.

“I think that we should get all of the covers off of my bed.” she pointed up at said bed, and flicked her hair as she said this, her face setting into a determined expression. “Then, we need to organise the furniture, and make them into the foundation for our awesome pillow fort!”

“Um, so, who’s going to set up the foundation?” Alya frowned as she said this, while fidgeting slightly. “I make pillow forts for my little siblings all the time, but I’ve never done a large-scale operation pillow fort.”

Slinging his arm around Alya’s shoulders, Adrien chuckled. “Well, I haven’t built a pillow fort since I was young, so, I guess we just need to try the best we can, huh?” he laughed. “I guess if it all goes wrong, it’ll be a **sheet** situation.”

Marinette and Alya groaned loudly as their only response.

 

As Nino ran to his house, his mind kept drifting back to Alya. Specifically, the way she had fell into his arms, all while sobbing. He hadn’t mentioned the incident to Marinette yet, and a part of him was hoping that Alya would tell Marinette on her own.

Of course, a pessimistic monster lurked within the back of his mind. Whispering doubts and pouring them straight into Nino’s ears. He pushed the thoughts aside, and increased his pace, willing his mind away whenever it strayed back to Alya.

Finally, he reached the doorway of his house. Barely registering the rain that began to pour outside, Nino shimmied his keys from his back pocket, and slid them into the lock. With a soft click, the door groaned open. It stuck halfway through its course to the wall, and Nino had to ram against it to unstick.

He crept into the house, quiet as the whispers of the dead. Faint snoring came from behind the door of his parent’s room. He had already texted them about the sleepover. They’d been working all day.

Not wanting to disturb them, he crept through the house until he reached his bedroom. As quietly as he could, he grabbed some clothes for he and Adrien to wear, and put it on the bed. He then crept back out, and went into the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush, and a new one from the drawer.

In the process, he also grabbed toothpaste and his deodorant. He took it all back to his room, and placed the stuff on top of the clothes.

Quickly, he rummaged under his bed and pulled out a backpack.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Deciding to ignore it for the time being, he placed all of the items on his bed into the backpack. With a sigh, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, revealing a text from Adrien.

_**How the hell do you make a pillow fort?!???!** _

Nino chuckled to himself, before texting back: _**Dunno man you’ll just have to wing it.**_

He slung the backpack over his shoulder, laughing under his breath as he did so. His phone vibrated again. _**HELP THE GIRLS DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING EITHER!**_

Chest heaving from keeping his laughter contained, Nino walked out of his room, and out the door. _**I’m on my way! Keep them occupied dude!**_

_**THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT MAKEOVERS HOW DO I KEEP CALM!!!!???** _

 

Adrien eyed the two girls nervously as he held the sheet between his hands. Their eyes roamed over his face, with Marinette’s sweeping downwards a few times. His cheeks flushed as she approached. “We won’t hurt you…” Marinette’s eyelashes fluttered innocently. Alya giggled behind Marinette, eyeshadow palette in hand.

Beads of sweat began to form on Adrien’s forehead.

“Chillax! We’re just going to experiment a little,” Alya giggled, stepping closer as well. Adrien groaned, still clutching onto the sheet keeping the whole pillow fort together.  
They’d trapped him in place. No way out.

He knew it was all in good fun. He knew nothing bad was going to happen. But he couldn’t help it as his throat constricted. The mood in the room seemed to darken. Alya and Marinette froze.

 _Why are my hands shaking?_ he thought to himself, lips pressing together against the bitter taste of bile in his mouth. _I can’t stop it… I really am weak._

A hand landed atop his, he flinched a little, but didn’t move away. His blonde hair fell in a gentle curtain over his eyes. The hand left his own, and brushed the hair out of his face.  
The sheet was gently pulled from his grasp. Gentle hands guided him down onto the floor. The hands pulled away, and left him on his own. He dimly recognised that they belonged to Alya.

“Adrien, we’re sorry.” Alya kneeled down in front of Adrien, making his eyes lock onto her. “If you want to leave the room, or for us to leave the room, just let us know.” she waited for his reply with a glimmer of sadness in her eyes.

He shuddered, knees tucking into his chest. He opened his mouth to apologise, but the words refused to come out.

Cautiously, Marinette approached, having tied the sheet off, keeping the fort steady. Her hands crept into Alya’s hair, fiddling with it nervously. She glanced back at Marinette, lips slightly pursed.

Dimly, Adrien thought, _I don’t belong here._ His hands shook harder.

“I’m just going to hold onto your shoulders, is that okay?” Alya’s voice brought him back slightly. He nodded. Alya’s hands crept onto his shoulders. “Now, I just want you to follow along with my words, okay?”

He nodded again, as she instructed him to breath in, then hold, then out again.

Eventually, he felt grounded enough to no longer be shaking. “Thank you…” he murmured, before leaning his head against Alya’s shoulder. He sobbed quietly, but found himself calmer than before. One of her hands crept up and rubbed his back.

The doorbell rang from down below. Adrien startled slightly, but Alya kept a firm grip on him. Even as Marinette hands yanked out of her hair, pulling half of it with them.

“I’ll go get it,” Marinette croaked. Her eyes were slightly watery from witnessing the scene, but the managed to put on a bright smile. Even with the slightly red eyes and bright red nose. And not to mention ruffled hair.

Nevertheless, Alya nodded. “Go on, I’ll stay here with Adrien.”

As soon as Marinette left the room, Adrien let the tears gather into his eyes. Although he was crying, he didn’t feel upset. It was mostly relief causing him to cry into her shoulder. Mostly the relief at her not turning her nose away with disgust.

After a few minutes, he pulled away, and gave her a gentle smile. “Thank you, Alya.”

She grinned back at him. “You’re welcome, and remember, I’m always here if you need me, okay?”

A familiar voice drifted up into Marinette’s room, “Wait, Adrien’s crying!?” and Adrien let himself smile wider. Nino burst up into Marinette’s room, eyes wide. “Dude! You are you-” he paused briefly, taking in the scene before him, “-oh!” he blushed, and fidgeted slightly on the spot, the bag still slung over his shoulder.

Adrien opened his arms slightly, and, without another word, Nino knelt down and enveloped him in an embrace.


End file.
